Floyd Landis forced to change name of new cycling team due to cannabis laws

Former doper Floyd Landis has been forced to change the name of his new cycling team due to cannabis laws.

Landis, winner of the 2006 Tour de France before he tested positive, has set up a team with cash from the Lance Armstrong lawsuit.

The team, Floyd’s Leadville Pro Cycling, is sponsored by Landis’ legal cannabis product business, but has been forced to change names due to laws in Canada where the team is registered.

Landis runs a legal hemp and cannabidiol business in Colorado, USA.

The 43-year-old said: “Canada is sorting out the legalities surrounding CBD and athletics.

“My commitment to the team remains unchanged, regardless of what it needs to be called.

“After years of litigation, I have no desire to enter another lengthy legal battle over the name.”

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The team will instead race under the name Floyd’s Pro Cycling.

In a recent wide-ranging interview with Cycling Weekly, Landis revealed he wanted to set a new team for young riders so “something positive can come out of the last 12 years.”

Landis, a key rider in the Armstrong era turned whistleblower, retired from racing in 2011 but will return to that world as a team boss.

The cash for the new team, around $700,000 or £500,000, comes from money handed to Landis after a lawsuit against his former team-mate and doper Lance Armstrong.

After Landis blew the whistle on Armstrong’s use of performance enhancing drugs in 2010, Armstrong paid $5million to the government in a settlement earlier this year.

As the person who first filed the lawsuit back in 2010, Landis was eligible for up to 25 per cent of the payout.

The team, which will be formed from the folding Canadian Continental team Silber Pro Cycling, has now announced it’s first signings.

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American Travis McCabe, Romanian Serghei Tvetcov , and Australian Jonathan Clarke will both be joining from the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling team.

Also on the roster are Canadian Nick Zukowsky from the Silber team, American Keegan Swirbul from Jelly Belly, and Canadian juniors Carson Miles and Robin Plamondon.

Team director Gordon Fraser said: “We’re going to focus on developing the best young cycling talent in Canada while expanding to recruit some of North America’s most dynamic and proven riders.”

The team also announced they will be riding Van Dessel bikes in 2019, a brand that build road bikes, as well as cyclocross and mountain bikes

This ties in with Floyd’s Pro Cycling’s plans to compete in grave and mountain bike events, starting in Canada on April 28 with Paris to Ancaster.

Fraser added: “Once we decided to race cross-category, partnering with Van Dessel made perfect sense."